3 1/2 month old akita pup that is fed twice a day. He barely eats breakfast and we leave it down for 15 minutes. He eats a little more readily at dinner but sometimes, we have to lure him back over to his bowl. Honestly, i think he'd rather drink than eat because he'll try to do that all day if we let him. SHould I worry? It's been like that since day one, basically

So far, does he appear healthy in every other way? I assume you've had him to the vet for his routine puppy check-ups and boosters. Could it be you are offering him too much food? I have a 60 lb. adult dog that gets one cup of kibble, twice a day (she's not an akita, but that's a basic example of weight in relation to calorie requirements). Also, I leave her food down for 30 minutes. Most of the time, she has it gone right away, but sometimes she likes to have a more liesurely time of it. And every now and then, not often, but once in awhile, she will have a "fast day," where she just won't eat her morning meal at all, and take a long time to eat her evening meal. I don't worry about it if she seems to be healthy in every other regard, and if she eats like normal the next day.

Let's talk about his actual bowl behavior for just a second, though. My dog does something a bit strange: Her first few mouthfuls of kibble she will carry into another room, drop it on the floor, and take her time with it. Sometimes she will pick up a bite, toss it into the air, and pounce on it before eating it. After she has "caught her prey," she returns to her dish and gobbles up the rest very efficiently. For this reason, I don't pick up her dish right away if she walks away from it, and I give her more time to eat it. Maybe your pup just needs more time too. Maybe he needs to "work" for his food, in which case, inventing an enrichment activity with his meals would be good-- the way my dog invented her own. At the pet store, you can find a treat ball-- you load it with dry kibble, and it has a couple of very small holes, just big enough to let out a bite or two at a time. The dog has to push this ball around to get the kibble out. My dog loves it, but since I sleep during the day, we had to put it away-- it's a bit noisy.

I wouldn't be overly concerned about his eating habits, if that were the only thing you've noticed. Puppies eat more during growing spurts, and less when they aren't in a growing spurt.

But the drinking concerns me, and I'd have it checked out. Could be a urinary tract infection, or something more serious.

definitely bring em to the vet to get checked out